First English Lutheran Church

Special congregation meeting: “Moving Forward”

March 8, 2009

Call to order and welcome: President Peter Peregrine

Opening prayer: Pastor Dismer

Peter Peregrine stated that the purpose of this informal meeting is to seek information and to review the vision and mission of the First English Lutheran Church, so resolutions will not be brought to the Council today.

Review of the past month:

· The Council accepted the resignation of Pastor George Detweiler

· The organization of the staff was reviewed

· Pastor Dismer’s hours will be increased.

Where do we go from here?

· Build on the strengths

· Re-examine the work of the Transition Task Force

· Work as a community to identify opportunities to share information

· Ensure everyone is informed and involved in the process as we move forward

· Bishop Justman will be a part of the process.

Mission statement: Paul Kayser

· Paul discussed and explained the Mission of First English Lutheran Church: We are People of God who Gather to Worship, Grow in Faith,

and Give to Others.”

· Our goal is to determine how we take the goals of this mission and make it be a part of who we are as members of FELC.

“Visioning exercise”:

· All those attending this special meeting were asked to complete the following statement in 12 words or less: “God’s vision for FELC is _______.”

Next steps:

· A Communication Task Force has been established to determine how information can be better communicated with the congregation, led by Pastor Dismer.

· A North Site Task Force has been established, to be led by Pastor Bauer

and Associate Bishop Mortensen-Wiebe.

· Develop “visioning exercises” to elicit input from the congregation, to be created by the Council and Associate Bishop Mortensen-Wiebe.

· Our pastoral model and needs to be evaluated by the Executive Committee and Council.

Timetable:

· Bimonthly Council meetings

· The goal is to have a plan of action to be completed by August 2009.

· Schedule a special congregational meeting to be held in September to share the information.

· Resolution of the issues by December

Peter challenged all those present, and those not present for this meeting, to get involved in the various activities of FELC. Suggestions:

· Join a task force

· Join a ministry team (meetings held the second Tuesday of the month at 6:30 p.m.)

· Volunteer in other ways to further the mission of FELC.

· Increase your benevolence.

Questions/ discussion from the floor

Thank you to everyone who attended.

Meeting adjourned.

Minutes taken by Judy Snavely